One Direction have joined a select group of stars to have had their music played more than a billion times on streaming service Spotify.

They are only the second UK band to hit the milestone and they are the 14th most played act on the service.

Coldplay were the first Brits to go through the billion barrier and were followed by DJ and producer Calvin Harris earlier this year.

New figures from the streaming service - which has been in the spotlight after Taylor Swift pulled her complete back catalogue from Spotify - suggest that the combined tally of 1D streams would amount to 5,000 continuous years of their music.

Swift, who is a former girlfriend of One Direction's Harry Styles, made her stand to focus attention on the release of her new album 1989 and to make a point about the level of financial return the company passes on to artists.

The boy band have made their achievement in the wake of the release of new album Four, although their most-streamed track is Story of My Life, with more than 90 million plays.

Kevin Brown, Spotify's head of label relations for Europe, said: "Not surprisingly, One Direction are one of the most popular bands on Spotify, with many millions of dedicated fans listening to their music. We congratulate 1D on joining the very select club of artists who are true streaming superstars."

Eminem is the most listened-to artist on the service.

Here are the most popular artists who have achieved more than a billion plays on Spotify:

1. Eminem

2. David Guetta

3. Rihanna

4. Coldplay

5. Avicii

6. Calvin Harris

7. Katy Perry

8. Drake

9. Pitbull

10. Maroon 5

11. Ed Sheeran

12. Beyonce

13. Imagine Dragons

14. One Direction

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